True Heritage v2
by DragonSummoning
Summary: Naruto's field trip with Jiraiya took a particular twist as an allegedly destroyed place captures them... Rated M for safety.
1. Episode 01: Ruins

A/N: Finally, I could get some time to fix True Heritage into this v2.0. This time I tried to make the plot a bit darker, but I still hope you all like it. Please, R & R.**  
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A/N: Naruto and its universe belong to Masashi Kishimoto.

**Episode 01: Ruins… **

"There it is; our next stop."

The old but rather tall and strong white-haired man pointed at an island. A blond teenager who walked beside him detailed it. It was certainly an important place, as it was surrounded by thick and tall walls, but those seemed to have crumbled apart since decades ago, maybe centuries, as the debris looked old, really old. In the seas that surrounded the island, there were, at least, four giant whirlpools, which also generated wind storms all around the island, and, as if it was a miracle, a lone bridge connected the island to the continent. The blond asked:

"Well, it seems to be an abandoned island, so what's with it, Pervy Sage?"

The old man complained:

"My name is Jiraiya, for the Heavens' sake… well, I guess you'll never learn it, brat."

The teenager complained too:

"You watch who you're calling a brat! My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I-"

"-will become the greatest Hokage in history, blah, blah, blah, I know that speech already."

Naruto looked at Jiraiya, who, even when joking and mocking at him, seemed to have a heavy expression on his eyes. Naruto had become quite perceptive lately, thanks to Jiraiya's training, and he shared quite a lot of things with Jiraiya in these last three years, to the point that both could understand each other with no need of words.

Between many things, Naruto saw the way Jiraiya saw the world, all full of corruption, deception and traffic of information, and now he understood why his godfather/teacher tried so desperately to find an end for the so-called Ninja Curse and achieve true peace.

Now, he noticed that something kept Jiraiya quite distracted, so he asked:

"Anyways, what's about that ruined island?"

Jiraiya only said, low voice:

"I guess a good history lesson will do well for you, kid. Also, we could find training material over there. After all, that used to be a Ninja village."

Naruto was puzzled by those words, and Jiraiya, seeing his perplexed look, asked:

"What? Didn't you learn anything at the Ninja Academy?"

Naruto lowered his head in shame, and this made Jiraiya remember his observations on Naruto's previous teachers, even the own Kakashi Hatake, recalling that none of them seemed particularly interested in teaching him anything, preferring to wrong his growth as a ninja and as a human being. Jiraiya just put a hand on the teenager's shoulder and said:

"Don't worry, kid; I won't joke about that again. Let's go; I'm sure you'll love this place."

Naruto heard then a growl deep in his soul:

"_**Just play along, brat; this place might prove useful for both of us…"**_

Naruto nodded, even when he didn't know well if he was nodding to Jiraiya or to the Fox. Jiraiya led Naruto to the long bridge, and then he kneeled down, tying a red cloth on the bridge. After that, he drew a piece of paper and a pen, writing a note, and then he summoned a small toad. He gave the red toad the letter and said, tying another red cloth on his neck as a cape:

"All right, I need this letter to get to the Hokage before tonight. Can you do that?"

The toad nodded and jumped towards the Fire Country with remarkable speed. Naruto asked, curious:

"What's that for?"

Jiraiya explained:

"This is a kind of measure you can take during scouting, tracking or infiltration missions: leaving a checkpoint is always important. Not only it allows you to remember where you've been, but also it allows you to use marks to guide your allies or, in case of needing backup, you don't need to give a specific location for them to find you, but instead give a general location and let them find your marks."

Naruto asked then:

"And, wouldn't that make t easy for any enemy to find you either?"

Jiraiya replied with a grin:

"Not if you're smart and skilled enough."

Naruto nodded at those words. He then asked:

"So that's what you've been doing whenever we went, giving clues for granny Tsunade in case anything happened to us?"

Jiraiya nodded:

"Sure it is, Naruto. Never walk into a mission without having an exit path or a backup plan. Being strong enough to come out of a mission victorious is one thing, but you also need to be conscious about your friends and teammates, because your team's safety is more important than the completion of a mission."

Naruto treasured those words and followed Jiraiya through the bridge that led to the island. After half an hour, they crossed the bridge and walked through fallen gates with the swirl symbol painted on them.

Jiraiya noticed how Naruto stared at the fallen gates, focusing in the symbol, and asked him:

"Something troubling you, Naruto?"

Naruto asked:

"Pervy Sage, why do these gates have the same symbol that is strapped to my jacket's sleeves?"

Jiraiya smiled at Naruto and then replied:

"Ok, let me explain a bit of history to you, as this seems to have been hidden from you by the Academy teachers and everyone in the Leaf Village. The symbol on those gates, so as the one on your sleeves, is the symbol of the Hidden Whirlpool Village, and their remains lie still on this island…"

Naruto was dumbstruck:

"The Hidden Whirlpool Village?!" As Jiraiya nodded, Naruto asked: "I've never heard of it, as I can see it was destroyed quite long ago; but why do I wear these symbols? Why do I, if I've never seen or heard about this village, and if I'm not even related to it?"

Jiraiya replied:

"Actually, you're a lot more related to this village than you'll ever believe. If you listen carefully, I'll tell you this place's story as I know it."

Naruto nodded and let Jiraiya guide him through the debris:

"Ok, I'm all ears."

Jiraiya walked around and said:

"This hidden village, the Hidden Whirlpool, was truly the very first Ninja village that ever existed. Seven Clans formed it, and their names are: Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Hyūga…"

Naruto was surprised to hear those known Clans' names as Jiraiya pointed at fallen compounds with those Clan's symbols. Jiraiya continued:

"…Kōga, Iga…" Jiraiya then pointed at a Clan compound with a red swirl painted on its walls: "…and Uzumaki. Naruto, you're the heir to the Whirlpool Village's Uzumaki Clan."

Suddenly, a voice came out of nowhere claimed, insulted:

"He'll have to prove it!"

And that was all they could hear before both Jiraiya and Naruto lost consciousness.

In the Hidden Leaf Village, Tsunade Senju worked as usual in the Hokage's office, but something was quite different in her expression: she seemed concerned, and a hint of ambition could be seen in her eyes. She called:

"Shizune, bring Team 8 and Team 10 to my office, please."

After several minutes, Teams 8 and 10 were together, facing the Hokage's desk. Tsunade spoke:

"Team 10, you're all Chūnin-ranked, while Team 8 only has Shino as a Chūnin. Shikamaru, you'll lead both teams in a search mission that will begin northeast from the Fire Country."

Shikamaru tried to remember the world map to try and find what could be found northeast from the Fire Country and his eyes revealed his surprise. _'The Land of Eddies? Could it be?'_ Tsunade continued:

"Jiraiya's last report was received when they reached those lands, and since three days ago I haven't known a thing of them, so I want you to search for him and Naruto."

Shikamaru reasoned in his head. _'Lady Tsunade's attitude is rather weird towards this situation. I remember clearly when she told Lord Jiraiya and Naruto that she expected a report from him every two months, not every three days. On the other side, Jiraiya is one of the Legendary Three and Naruto is Naruto, so they're powerful enough to defend themselves from any trouble, and if they find trouble, I really doubt we could do a thing to help them. This is all weird, what should I do?'_ He then said:

"Understood, Lady Tsunade. When should we leave?"

Tsunade replied:

"As soon as you can; now, go." The group was about to leave when Tsunade said: "Kiba, Shino, stay here for a little moment."

Shikamaru's suspicions raised a lot more after hearing this. _'This is too weird…' _As Ino, Chōji, Hinata and Shikamaru left the office, he closed the door and stayed close, eavesdropping the following words from the Hokage:

"You two, I trust you with the mission report. Take these radios and keep frequency 209 during the entire trip. Now, go."

Shikamaru confirmed all of his suspicions with those words. _'That's not Tsunade's way of treating teamwork. It's definitely not her.'_

End of Episode 01.


	2. Episode 02: Family Reunion

A/N: Read Disclaimer on episode 01; please, enjoy and review this second episode.

**Episode 02: Family Reunion.**

"Shikamaru, why are you running like that? That's a lot weird coming from you!"

Kiba tried to get the attention of the 'lazy genius', who seemed to have a rather weird attitude. He just replied:

"That's something I cannot explain here, and that only Ino, Chōji and Hinata would understand, anyways!"

Shino spoke then, rooting out Kiba's uprising outburst:

"It should be better for our teamwork to flow if you explained things to us right now, Shikamaru."

Sakura Haru-no, who was heading to the Hokage's office, saw how Kiba and Shino stopped abruptly from the race they had with Shikamaru and the rest of their teammates. Shikamaru, upset, looked at the serious faces of both Kiba and Shino and said, shaking his head:

"If you want me to talk now, then you're screwed up. If you want me to talk to you at all, follow me. After all, I'm the leader of this squad."

Shikamaru ran through, followed by Ino and Chōji. Hinata ran after them, concerned, and both Kiba and Shino tried to stop her, but something made her keep running despite of the commanding yells and the attempt of stopping her. Kiba asked:

"What's with her? She'd rather follow Shikamaru and those jackasses instead of sticking to her own team!"

Shino said:

"When she hears the word 'Naruto' she turns into a wild card… Well, we have no choice."

Sakura was paying attention to everything and saw how Kiba and Shino abandoned the Hokage tower, running behind them, just to see what would happen. As an incurable gossip girl, Sakura _needed_ to know what was going on, and as some of her friends were involved in this situation, she **needed** to know what was going on, even more when Naruto was involved.

* * *

Somewhere, Naruto opened his eyes, realizing that he was pinned to a wall. He turned and saw that Jiraiya was also pinned to another wall, also awake. Naruto asked:

"Pervy Sage, what's going on?"

Jiraiya looked around and said:

"This place… there's something familiar about it… I guess we're still inside the Hidden Whirlpool Village's remains…"

The same voice they heard before they blacked out spoke to them:

"Stop talking about us as if we were phantoms or undead, Toad Sage!"

Both Naruto and Jiraiya turned to the place where the voice came from. They saw a really beautiful red-haired girl, perhaps on her early twenties, wearing full ninja attire, two kodachi blades in her hands. Jiraiya looked at her and let a word flow freely:

"Kushina?"

The girl's blades pressed into Jiraiya's neck, neither Naruto nor Jiraiya realizing when she could get so close in the blink of an eye, and she said, threatening voice:

"How dare you to speak that name so freely, you Leaf bastard?! You all killed her!"

Naruto felt deep fear, but Jiraiya kept calm. As he noticed that the kunoichi in front of him was a rather young one, he spoke:

"I knew Kushina Uzumaki very well, young lady, as she was my most prized student's loving wife."

The girl asked, still upset:

"Oh, really?! Then why do you bring us even more shame by bringing a ridiculous brat who bears the same demonic soul that you forced into Lady Kushina, and that ended up killing her, huh?!"

Naruto was deeply terrified. _'How did she know that I have the Fox inside of me?'_ Jiraiya spoke frankly:

"This 'ridiculous brat' you see thereis the fruit of the love between Lady Kushina Uzumaki and my beloved student, Minato Namikaze. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and both Minato and Kushina sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox in him, sealing each other inside him too, to save the Hidden Leaf Village. I've got the official birth papers in my pouch."

The woman made a sign to her back and a man showed up. His hair was dark blue, and he seemed to be on his early twenties as well. Naruto noticed his lilac pupil-less eyes and, all of a sudden, he made a match:

"That guy resembles Hinata a lot more than her own family!"

Jiraiya detailed the man who checked through his pouch and said, smiling:

"Yes, Naruto; it's good that you noticed that."

The woman spoke, not paying attention to their ramblings:

"His name was confirmed, so as his parents' signs. I can recognize my aunt Kushina's sign…" This surprised Jiraiya at all: "…and so far, this is the Fourth Hokage's sign, right where the father's sign has to be."

Naruto wasn't exactly good with names, so when he heard 'Minato Namikaze', his reaction was a bit too null; but when the words 'Fourth Hokage' and 'father' were put together, Naruto jumped in surprise, surprise leading to sour tears:

"What? M-My… my f-father was…"

"Yes, Naruto. Your father, the Fourth Hokage, dispoused a beautiful and powerful princess of the Uzumaki Clan: Kushina. We all thought she was the last Uzumaki left, after we learned from her of this village's destruction during the Second Ninja War, so the First's wife, Mito Uzumaki, gave her the burden of the Nine-Tailed Fox, as only an Uzumaki could endure the role of protecting the Village from that demon's destructive power. When she gave birth to you, her seal weakened, and a masked man released the Fox from her gut, and both Minato and Kushina found no other way to save you and the village than sealing the Fox in your soul. They loved you a lot, Naruto, so they risked everything they had for you."

This was too much information for Naruto to digest at once, and all he could do was cry profusely. The woman and the blue-haired man got close to Naruto, who was still pinned to the wall, and held his chin, looking deep into his angry and sad eyes. The man's lilac eyes turned white, full silver and, finally, they turned full gold. Naruto felt a lot pressured under the man's shiny gaze, but the woman's dark-amethyst eyes were even scarier. The man smiled and said:

"His outer traits aren't exactly Uzumaki unes, but his blood and his spirit are the ones your blood shares, Megumi. This Naruto brat is a genuine Uzumaki boy."

Megumi's expression seemed to change quite a lot towards Naruto, after both the words of Jiraiya and the ones of the blue-haired man, turning a bit less wrathful. Also, the fact of having the blue-haired man share all what he read from Naruto's thoughts and memories with her via telepathy helped her understand a lot more about this blond brat in front of her. She then touched Naruto's forehead with her fingertips and left her eyes closed. Naruto felt a stinging headache during that process, and he fainted.

* * *

Naruto, waking up in the sewers of his mindscape, saw Megumi right in front of the Fox. The Fox growled at her with hard-bitten wrath, but the woman just stared at it, quietly. The Fox growled:

"_**Megumi Uzumaki, I remember you from Kushina's memories… I'm pretty sure she'll be pissed if I kill you right now, mhm, mhm, mhm…"**_ As Megumi just stared at his taunt, faceless, the Fox tried again: _**"After that, I can kill this brat and be finally free…"**_

The Fox's growls were truly scary, but Megumi just turned from the Fox to the cage's door and saw the seal. She just claimed:

"It's a perfect Death God Consuming seal. I couldn't expect any less from Lady Kushina." She turned then to Naruto and asked, bored: "Is this the Nine-Tailed Fox?"

Naruto just nodded, scared of Megumi. She just stared back at the Fox and said:

"I want to meet whoever sealed him in here. Naruto, tear the seal."

Naruto, scared as hell, tried to refuse, but Megumi's dark gaze threatened a lot of pain and a slow death; so he just decided to get close to the cage, even more scared of Megumi than of the Fox. He grabbed the seal's tag and immediately got shocked and caught by chains. The shapes of a tall, blond man wearing a standard Leaf Jōnin attire and a white coat with red flames and a red-haired woman who wore a long lilac dress showed up, claiming angrily with one voice:

"What the hell are you doing, Naruto?! And who is this woman?!"

Naruto couldn't speak, but Megumi did so for him:

"Not only you commit suicide in the most coward of ways when you could solve things with this Fox in an easier way, but you don't leave anything for your son to learn about us, Kushina, Minato? That's disappointing, even more coming from such good people as you! You could at least warn us about your pregnancy!"

Kushina looked at the young lady and let a tear out of surprise:

"M-Megumi?! What the hell?! H-How did you find Naruto?!"

Megumi looked at Minato and said:

"You haven't answered my question, aunt Kushina, so please, do so."

Minato, fully saddened, said:

"Everything we knew we saved in our private keep, leaving the Third Hokage with the command of showing it to Naruto. The way you talk to us, those words you spoke about Naruto not knowing a thing about us, it all means that we were betrayed after our death…"

Kushina cried out of wrath while Naruto stared at them, sad. Megumi shook her head before saying:

"You were just as selfish as everyone else in the Leaf, in the end, Fourth Hokage…" The honorary title was spoke in a rather mocking way, something that hit Minato hard: "…now, this brat who claims to be your son is sixteen years old, he's bearing the Fox, he's a ninja despised by his own homeland, and he doesn't even know about his very own blood. Congratulations."

Minato and Kushina's sadness grew larger and heavier, as Megumi turned even colder in her speech.

End of Episode 02.


	3. Episode 03: Uzumaki

A/N: Here it comes, Episode 03. Hope youy like it, please enjoy and review; and if you don't like then don't read! =)

**Episode 03: Uzumaki. **

Megumi's rather cold and accusing speech continued after a truly brief break:

"That stupid fox over there…" This made the Fox growl in a threatening mood: "…could be brought back into your gut, Kushina; not only your body could endure it, but it would have helped you heal up a lot faster from the Masked Man's wounds; and if you argue chakra exhaustion due to childbirth, then I can slap you until your head gets ripped from the spine! You're an Uzumaki, for the Heavens' sake!"

The Fox growled, annoyed:

"_**Then, if you are so wise in telling others their mistakes, why haven't you assumed her role, or the brat's one, and get me inside of your soul and see if you can endure me?!"**_

Megumi just said with fierceness:

"All you want is to kill the brat, so I won't give you the pleasure." The Fox even stepped backwards, alerted by the girl's voice: "I could do that, yes, and take full control over you until you had no free will other than mine, but I have enough respect for you, Lord Kurama, to know that I'm not allowed to do such a thing if I want to restore the ancient order, something the Hidden Whirlpool Village has as a life mission."

The Fox looked at her with wrath and grunted, with venom:

"_**Selfish bitch…"**_

Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox, found itself trapped by chains that came out of Megumi's left hand, and couldn't move at all. Actually, Kurama felt how those chains took his anger away, soothing him. _'What the hell?'_ Megumi wasn't exactly making any effort, and Naruto was a lot surprised, and again, scared of her. Megumi turned to him and said:

"Naruto, this is one of the things that the Uzumaki bloodline allows us to do. Have you ever seen the Chakra Chains before?"

Naruto, scared as hell, shook his head. Kushina was embarrassed and upset, and Minato was a lot sadder than before, also feeling anger deep in his soul. Megumi just said, getting close to the blond teenager:

"Well, from now on, I'll be your tutor, and you could consider me as your new mother, seeing that there's nothing left from your parents."

Kushina growled out of sheer wrath:

"How dare you to say such a thing and treat me as scum, after all I've done for you?! And you dare to talk about us being selfish…"

Megumi just smiled back at her, devilish-evil intent in her glance:

"Your bodies disappeared, your souls were eaten by the Death God, and all what's left of you is a drop of your chakras to avoid the seal from opening up, so, I guess I'm right and you can't prove me wrong, can you?"

Minato looked at Kushina, and after both nodded, he stepped forward:

"We can prove you wrong, and we will!"

Megumi said, scoffing at that comment:

"Let's go, Naruto! We've got a lot of things to do better than wasting our time in here, and also you've got a whole Clan to meet!"

Minato and Kushina started arming hand seals as the mindscape vanished slowly.

Outside, Jiraiya was surprised to see Megumi and Naruto wake up, and then he felt a truly familiar couple of chakra signatures leave Naruto's body. Megumi said, turning to the blue-haired man:

"Ok, let's go. Kaji, my dear, take Naruto to our place. I'll talk to this Toad Sage."

Kaji looked at Naruto with a smile and motioned him to follow him. Naruto, still confused, scared and suspicious, turned to Jiraiya, who simply nodded at him. As both Naruto and Kaji left, Jiraiya waited until he was left alone with Megumi. Then, he said:

"You forced Minato and Kushina's remaining chakra out of his body, right?"

Megumi grinned sheepishly:

"Naruto needs his parents, as everyone else has betrayed him so far. All I did was raising the stakes on Kushina's epic prank over the Death God, and now, as their chakra is still on Earth, the Death God cannot retain their souls or their bodies!" Jiraiya was scared of the power an Uzumaki could ever have, but he heard her continue: "Now, I need to ask you one thing."

Jiraiya noticed how Megumi slowly started untying his shackles and said:

"Ask then."

Megumi smiled at him, a lot more relaxed:

"The rescue team you asked for, Lord Jiraiya, is there any member of our original Clans?"

Jiraiya replied, dumbstruck:

"I didn't ask for a rescue team. All I did was reporting to my teammate, the Fifth Hokage, of my location, as I always do every two months, while taking Naruto into this field trip."

Megumi realized then that there could be a problem:

"Well, then there could be a problem with this Hokage, the Slug Princess. A spy we have in the Hidden Leaf sent this."

Megumi showed a series of photos to Jiraiya, and he saw what was going on. He saw Tsunade reading the message, then calling Teams 8 and 10, and then he saw her wiring the male members of Team 8. Jiraiya then said:

"Well, this is new even for me. Tsunade wouldn't react like that to a letter of mine…"

Megumi asked then:

"Is anyone in those teams part of our Clans?"

Jiraiya was upset, as this fact meant that Tsunade might be in danger, or even dead:

"Well, I'll have to look into it personally. In the meantime, I might tell you that there's an Ino-Shika-Chō trio, and a Hyūga you might be interested in, given that the Hyūga in here are a lot more like her than her own family in the Leaf, Lady Megumi."

Megumi said:

"How about the wired ones?"

Jiraiya lowered his head:

"Those are an Inuzuka boy and an Aburame boy, my lady."

Megumi spoke then:

"Ok. Now, what I'm about to ask you: only allow the four you told me first to enter our lands. The wired ones must leave, preferably not knowing a thing about where they were being headed."

Jiraiya asked, sagely:

"But, is that strictly necessary?"

Megumi replied, lecture mode:

"Lord Jiraiya; as you must know, the Hidden Whirlpool Village is the one which must maintain the balance in this world. In the ancient times, when people respected order, we were the pillar of balance, and no one would try to throw the world into chaos. After the First Ninja War, the first great chaos of our time, the intervention of my Clan in the outer events brought the attention of the warlords and power players, and they all assaulted us, the Leaf not even doing a thing to avoid the fate that chased us. After war came home, we had to sacrifice a lot of people, we had to let go of three of our Clans and simulate complete destruction to survive, and now we can only maintain order if we can reform ourselves and work in the darkness. If the Leaf knows of our presence, the other Villages will, and Red Dawn will, and everyone else will; and right now, we can't afford to fight against the whole world."

Jiraiya asked:

"But, the Nara boy, the Yamanaka girl, the Akimichi boy and the Hyūga girl are Leaf ninjas too. The Leaf may know about you through them, you know that?"

Megumi said:

"Not if they learn about their blood's origins first. It is time for the Seven Clans to gather again, and it's time to prepare for the bloodiest war ever seen."

Jiraiya nodded:

"So, it's truly coming; it's not the fearful delusion of an old war hawk, is it?"

Megumi nodded back, concerned:

"You seem not to want war, so we'll forgive you, Lord Jiraiya; after all, Naruto has been under your care until now, is it true?"

Jiraiya lowered his head, ashamed:

"Yes… even when I could have done a lot more, if I can be sincere."

Megumi then felt something that made her grin:

"They are here, let's go!"

Jiraiya was taken aback by this reaction. He stood up and followed Megumi, still wondering what she meant with the words 'they are here'. _'Could it be Teams 8 and 10, or…?'_

Once Jiraiya and Megumi opened the door and climbed the stairs, leaving the dungeon they were in, the view that greeted them almost made Jiraiya faint:

"W-Wha-What in the hell… c-could it be…?"

Megumi just smiled, relaxed:

"You proved me wrong, and you also completed your majestic prank over the Death God…" Naruto and Kaji, who were also there, were also stunned by the view: "…Kushina, Minato…"

The Fourth Hokage and the Bloody Habanero faced them, their bodies as young as the day they died, and both wearing their ninja attire. Megumi smiled and hugged them, crying tears of happiness, and Naruto didn't know what to do other than cry endless tears.

End of Episode 03.


	4. Episode 04: Encounters

**Episode 04: Encounters. **

A week had passed since Naruto's arrival to the Hidden Whirlpool Village. Naruto was tremendously excited not only for knowing who his parents were, but also for the possibility of talking to them, dealing with them, and even better, hugging them. Jiraiya wouldn't stop asking them questions, while Minato and Kushina did the same towards Jiraiya and Naurto. The mutual answers were quite shocking.

When Kushina was asked about having Kurama, the Nine-Tailed Fox, inside her gut, she replied:

"Having the Chakra Chains was good enough for me to keep him at bay, but I realize now that I had too much to learn yet. Seeing Megumi wash all of his anger away with her chains was so amazing… I need to train a lot yet."

Naruto wouldn't stop paying attention to his mother, one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen. When Minato was asked about the deal with the Death God, he just said:

"He always looked at us with suspicion; even when he signed the contract with my blood and my soul, and even when he could have enough time to take our bodies away, he always suspected that there was something strange about us. I'd love to see his face, now that we've left the world of the dead for good."

Both answers left both Naruto and Jiraiya with their jaws on the floor and with trembling fear. Later, when Jiraiya was asked about the status of the world, he answered:

"The Nations are kind of living a tense peace, as they all send their ninjas on missions where they have to face each other to the death, but no one is brave enough to declare war openly. I guess the only one is the masked man, the leader of the Red Dawn… but I guess there's something wrong with Tsunade, so eventually I'll have to leave this nice place in order to look after her."

Jiraiya's answers made Minato think, while Kushina simply made a gesture that meant that she already expected that to happen. When Naruto was asked about his life so far in the Leaf, he just said:

"Well, I've made a few friends over there in the Leaf, but the people always treat me as if I am a monster. So far, I still need someone to buy groceries for me, as no one would let me in their grocery stores; I can say that I officially learned nothing at the Academy, and many of the basics were given to me the wrong way; Kakashi himself refused to teach me a thing, preferring the bastard Sasuke; and so far I've had to fight truly hard in order to learn the few things I know…"

Minato felt truly sad and upset, but Kushina wanted to rip some heads off their necks after hearing Naruto's answer. The worst thing for their emotional turmoil was Naruto's sad smile:

"Please, don't be so rude towards them. I know it's not easy to deal with knowing that a little brat is in charge of keeping the dreaded and feared Nine-Tailed Fox at bay, even more when you are constantly told by influential people that he is the demon itself. Even so, after what cousin Megumi just did, I think he can be dealt with without insulting each other."

Kushina looked at Naruto's comprehensive smile and felt his inner pain, doing no other thing than hugging him with all of her strength. Minato smiled, letting tears fall as he got close to his wife and son. _'He looks and behaves a lot like his mother, but he has matured a lot more than many other people about the ways of the life… I just hope he finds a good girl who can actually understand his pain…'_

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Hidden Leaf Village, Tsunade seemed to be nervous, as she felt like her feet were in hot water because of her search team not reporting yet after three days, and the Elders were asking too many questions. Shizune herself had noticed the strange behavior of the Fifth Hokage, as she even stopped escaping the office to gamble and even stopped buying lottery tickets.

* * *

Somewhere else in the Land of Eddies (or at least, Shikamaru knew that the place had such name), the search party asked for a room to spend a couple of hours and met there. Shino spoke first, surprising everyone in the room:

"We've been travelling for five days and you still haven't said a word. As your teammate and fellow Chūnin shinobi, I demand you to explain things to us."

Shikamaru nodded at Shino and said:

"Very well, but you'll have to seal the room and turn your radios off."

Kiba was surprised, but Shino said:

"I'm afraid we can't do that; it's the Hokage's order to wear them on until we get back."

Ino, Chōji and Hinata were particularly nervous with the way the two smart ninjas faced each other. Shikamaru just said:

"Then you'll have to follow me blindly all the time."

Kiba jumped, again upset:

"Why would you mistrust us all of a sudden, huh? Are you such an 'elite ninja' that you don't ever think we can understand your reasons or what? Or you're planning on betraying the Hokage?"

Before Kiba could get close to Shikamaru, both he and Shino were paralyzed by his shadow. Shikamaru spoke then, bored:

"Will it be enough for you to say that I think the Hokage might have been replaced?"

Ino and Hinata felt a shiver run down their spines, Chōji got nervous and Kiba growled out of sheer wrath, but Shino said, still cool:

"Very well, we'll turn off our radios and see your reasoning."

Shikamaru nodded and released his Shadow Mimic, and Shino turned off his radio. Kiba spoke, still mistrusting:

"Are you sure of this, Shino?"

As Shino nodded, Kiba turned off his radio and sealed the room, along with the other shinobi there. Shikamaru said then:

"Very well, whoever has any questions is free to ask."

Kiba began:

"First of all, where in the hell are we?"

Shikamaru responded:

"This place was one of the most prosperous countries in the times before the Second Great War. It was known as the Land of Eddies, and it had its own ninja village, known as the Hidden Whirlpool Village." Ino, Chōji and Hinata were utterly shocked to hear that name: "Tsunade and Jiraiya both knew of this place, so having Tsunade give us the coordinates without even knowing about the place's name is something suspicious."

Shino started thinking:

"Okay, then the next question: why is this place so interesting?"

Shikamaru explained:

"The Hidden Whirlpool Village was the Leaf's main ally during the period between the First and the Second Ninja Wars. Several clans were original from that village, like the Hyūga, the Akimichi, the Yamanaka, the Nara and the Uzumaki; and the fact that Naruto was suddenly missing around these lands, and that now the rest of us is being sent there, it all makes me consider the possibility that Tsunade tries to locate this ghost village for some reason, even when she should have known already where it was. That's another reason to suspect of her."

Ino asked:

"But, why sending Kiba and Shino? Wasn't enough to demonstrate that location if we 4 were sent here and we suddenly disappear?"

Shikamaru answered:

"Tsunade suspects that this village might not be exactly a ghost village, so he sent us with two informants, in order to get all the information possible from our expected disappearance or defection and be capable of justifying a raid on this location. Actually, that way of dividing teams without the full consent of the team members isn't like Tsunade at all; it's a too cool manner for her. Also, I was present when Tsunade told Jiraiya that she'd expect a report message every two months, and then she seemed completely worried that he hadn't reported in three days."

Hinata was scared:

"S-So, d-do you think that Lady Tsunade has been… r-replaced?"

Kiba scoffed:

"That's absurd, and that's quite a conspiracy theory that would be easily bought by anyone, but I didn't smell any change towards her!"

Shino replied:

"My insects didn't find any real disturbance either."

Shikamaru simply nodded and said:

"It's easy to deceive the senses, no matter how acute they are, and Naruto showed it to you during our first Chūnin Exam." Kiba was upset as he remembered that episode: "Also, it's easy to deceive any kind of animal when it comes to using good disguises. The whole behavior as a macro has changed, and that doesn't happen from one day to another, not in such a strong and solid character as Tsunade Senju."

Hinata said again, a bit fearful:

"I-I a-agree with Sh-Shikamaru, I-I also n-noticed her quite strange, l-lately; s-she h-hadn't been seen in the c-casinos f-for the past t-two weeks, and Lady T-Tsunade a-always gambled, every single day."

Ino said, with a bit more of courage:

"I usually scan her thoughts to check on any gossip, you know, just for fun, but this time what I found was total darkness; I couldn't even penetrate the very first protective layer of her mind, and I even found a Sharingan pattern in it… It was weird…"

Kiba and Shino were puzzled by all those phrases, but Shikamaru just said, shrugging his shoulders:

"It seems it's not just me, people."

Shino asked:

"So, what do you suggest?"

Shikamaru said:

"We get close to the large island with the whirlpools, we check it out and we try to get in, all with your radios off. Whatever happens in there, we'll make a blood oath that not a word about it will escape our lips."

Everyone drew kunai and slit their fingers, letting the blood flow to their hand palms. Finally, they all stacked their hands together and Shikamaru said:

"After this happens, we'll investigate what happened to Lady Hokage. Now, let's go."

Teams 8 and 10 untagged the room and left the inn. Quickly, they moved towards the rather large island, finding the lonely and old bridge that connected the island to the continent. Ino said, scared:

"For being a deserted island, it has quite a lot of chakra movement…"

Hinata used her bloodline trait, seeing the huge whirlpools around the island:

"T-Those whirlpools move with chakra, so there's someone generating them!"

The ninjas, scared as hell, but moved by the curiosity, nodded at each other and took the bridge. After several minutes of walking through it, a huge water wave came from their left side. Hinata only could see that the wave was so charged of chakra that the signature of its controller couldn't be seen:

"Water attack!"

As the wave crushed the bridge, Shikamaru woke up, realizing the shameful situation of his team. Hinata and Ino were holding themselves to the bridge rope, struggling not to fall into the whirlpool, Chōji was trying to help them, even when he seemed himself quite dizzy, and neither Kiba nor Shino could be seen. Shikamaru helped Chōji bringing the girls back to the bridge and commanded, scared:

"Hinata! Where did Kiba and Shino go?!"

Hinata tried to check the surroundings, even checking inside the water, but there was not a trace of their chakra signatures. She just said, frightened:

"I-It's just like if t-they were g-gone, Shikamaru!"

"Well, that's it! We head back and we find Kiba and Shino-"

Before those words could be spoken at all, three huge water walls surrounded the four ninjas, forcing them into the island and making them cross the broken gates. Once inside, they were met by the debris of an ancient, glorious and large Hidden Village, but Hinata's full-white eyes could discover the truth behind those debris:

"U-Um, g-guys, I-I think we're not exactly in a g-ghost town a-at all…"

Those were the last words Hinata pronounced before blacking out, quickly followed by Ino and Chōji. Shikamaru was the only one who could endure to see the ghost town become a healthy and majestic village, and then he was surrounded by twelve Jōnin-level ninjas, all masked with cloth masks and wearing dark-blue clothes and black armors. He said:

"So the Hidden Whirlpool Village wasn't dead at all…"

After those words, one of the Whirlpool ninjas blinked, and Shikamaru fainted.

* * *

Who knows how much time had passed, but a well-known yelling voice woke Shikamaru up:

"Damn, Shikamaru! Stop being that lazy and get your ass up that bed!"

Then, a scolding adult voice replied at him:

"Language, Naruto! Those are your friends!"

Shikamaru opened his eyes and got up, rubbing his head with his left hand:

"Nngh, Naruto; you don't need to yell at me-" When he turned to see the Yellow Flash of the Leaf and the Bloody Habanero right beside Naruto, saying that he got shocked was an understatement: "What the hell is this? F-Fourth Hokage?"

Minato and Kushina smiled at him, Naruto grinning sheepishly:

"I thought you were dead for a while, Shikamaru! These are my parents, Minato and Kushina!"

Minato smiled:

"He's just like his father, Lord Shikaku!"

Kushina smiled too:

"Yeah, and I guess he inherited nothing from his mother, Lady Yoshino!"

Shikamaru felt bothered by their words, but the shock was too huge for him to even react. _'It's no illusion, and it's not a disguise…'_ The first thing he did was rubbing his eyes, and then he pulled a surge of chakra over all his body, but the figures wouldn't vanish, shape-shift or reveal any disturbance that would discover any fake, so he said:

"I cannot believe this… it's truly the Fourth Hokage and his wife, the Bloody Habanero…"

Kushina laughed:

"Come on, we have names: Minato and Kushina. I guess you know our son, Naruto."

Shikamaru nodded, seeing a truly happy Naruto, seeing him happy for the very first time in his life:

"Lord Minato, Lady Kushina; might I ask why aren't you dead?"

Minato replied:

"It's a truly long story, and we'd rather say it when the time is right. Will your friends wake up? I'm sure they'll want to see Naruto too."

Shikamaru nodded and drew a mall flask from his utility pouch. He opened it and made Ino smell it, the platinum-blonde waking up like a bolt. The sight that greeted her was impressive enough for her to jump and **scream**:

"WHAT IN THE HEAVEN'S NAME!? THE FOURTH HOKAGE AND HIS WIFE ARE ALIVE?!"

Everyone had to cover their ears, and Chōji was the next to wake up:

"Damn it, Ino! You're too loud!"

Kushina chuckled:

"Just like their parents, the Leaf's first Ino-Shika-Chō trio…"

Finally, Hinata woke up, seeing the shocked faces of Team 10. As she turned to see where they looked, she found Naruto, along with the Fourth Hokage and his wife, all of them in a rather cute and likely family group. She blushed deeply and started blabbering nonsense, unable to articulate any word. Naruto looked at her, still puzzled, and Kushina simply said the epic words:

"She's just like Hitomi and Himitsu: she'd blush red-wine and turn light-headed when seeing _the love of her life_…"

Naruto heard those words, and they seemed to echo deep into his mind. Many images of couples in love walking and talking on the streets came up to him, and then he made the puzzle match, blushing like mad, but then, when he was about to say a word, Hinata's faint spell was cast. Naruto was nervous now, while Team 10 just watched the scene with some amusement, but Kushina just said:

"Didn't you know that, Naruto? Maybe you're as blockhead towards girls as your father!" Naruto tried to get close to her, this time more carefully, but Kushina said: "Give her some time to consider things, and she also needs a rest, and some good meals. You too, kids, but you'll need to do something first."

Hinata was kind of conscious on her faint spell. _'Naruto looks great! Lord Minato and Lady Kushina are just too great! But… now Naruto knows… what should I do? What if he…?'_ Shikamaru asked:

"What shall we do, my lady?"

Kushina said:

"It's an order from the Uzukage that your Clans return to their homeland."

Ino asked:

"What? And, how are they going to do that without attracting the Leaf's attention?"

An old man, lilac-eyes, wearing white and dark-blue robes and a Kage-like hat with the word 'swirl' in it entered the room and said:

"They will know how to do that; their elders had written for them how to do that since generations ago. All what they need is the message."

Chōji asked:

"What about our friends, Kiba and Shino?"

The old man replied:

"They weren't meant to see our village, so Lord Jiraiya is taking them back to the Leaf. We must keep ourselves hidden until the time comes, and you will help us do that."

Shikamaru reasoned:

"But, a caravan of three Ninja clans is something that is hardly unnoticeable. When someone who follows them sees them enter this place, they'll discover us."

The old man smiled:

"That's why they're the smartest Clans between the actual ninjas. They'll find the way."

Ino then asked, quite a bit shocked:

"Well, um, you beat us with huge water waves, you force us into getting in under a death threat, you make us faint and leave us with headaches, and still you want our help? What makes you think we'll comply so easily?"

The old man said:

"Because if you don't, the whole world will be doomed; the Leaf being first of all of them…" Ino gulped at the man's seriousness: "From now on, if you truly care about the Leaf, you'll stop being Leaf ninjas, and you'll bring your Clans here. If this village, the Hidden Whirlpool, recovers its ancient strength, then we'll be able to overcome the Leaf's corruption, and with it, the political and territorial interests of all the other countries."

Ino was shocked and Chōji was surprised, but Shikamaru just said:

"What do you mean with 'corruption', Lord Uzukage?"

The Uzukage said:

"Tsunade Senju's days are about to be over, and so are the ones of her partners of the Legendary Three. The one that has already taken over her position has already started searching for us, so we must strengthen ourselves and keep as stealth as possible, even for his highly-evolved Sharingan."

Minato himself asked:

"Is it an Uchiha?"

"No, but we shall need to find the last four Uchiha remaining, as they once belonged to us, them being direct descendants from the Sage of the Six Paths."

Naruto asked, puzzled:

"Four? Weren't Sasuke and Itachi the only survivors to the Uchiha Massacre?"

Hinata was waking up when these words were told:

"Sasuke Uchiha, the boy dwelling in his own darkness, and Itachi Uchiha, the young man who took the blame on his family's massacre, both are active, the first one under Orochimaru's tutelage and the second one within the Red Dawn organization. But there are two more still active, and, with the help of the Yamanaka Clan and certain Leaf ninja, we can bring them to us. One is a girl who's in the Leaf's parallel ANBU organization, who used to be Sasuke's girlfriend and best friend during his childhood, and the other one is the mastermind behind the Red Dawn, which you, Lord Minato, should know very well."

Minato and Kushina started thinking of an Uchiha they knew that could have reached that far, but no one crossed their minds. Shikamaru said:

"Well, and what about the 'usurper' in the Leaf, Lord Uzukage?"

The Uzukage laughed:

"You're quite hasty when inquiring information, just like the Nara my parents told me about. Well, the usurper is someone powerful enough to defeat the Legendary Three, and also is someone smart enough and well-versed in political, tactical and strategic thinking to get advantage even from the most misfortunate situations. Also, he has a Sharingan, and he has maybe all the dead Uchiha's Sharingan eyes around with him, so as the Senju blood running through his veins. His name is…"

End of Episode 04.


	5. Episode 05: Departures

A/N: Sorry for the long delay; college has turned me into a slave. Here is Episode 05, hope you enjoy it; so please, read and review.

**Episode 05: Departures.**

At the Hidden Leaf Village, Tsunade worked in her office, paperwork filling her desk in huge heaps. Her door was knocked and she replied:

"Come in."

Shizune, outside the office, watched carefully as Homura and Koharu, the village's elder counselors to the Hokage, reached her office for the seventh time in that week. _'Since the day Lady Tsunade sent those kids to search for Naruto and Lord Jiraiya, these two elders have come into the office every single day to talk to her. Tsunade herself had also been quite nervous, and it's strange that she hadn't yet tried to relieve herself with some gambling. There's something strange here.'_

As the elders entered the office, closing the door behind them, Shizune spied on the conversation they had:

"Any news on the search team?"

"So far, I can only say that, after the sounds we heard of the microphones being damaged by unknown forces, nothing else has been received via radio."

Shizune noticed a pause and then heard Koharu's voice:

"Well, something must have happened to those brats; maybe we'll have to explain their Clans about their death in action."

Homura spoke then, Shizune trying to contain her anger:

"And, changing the subject to relax a bit more, how is the paperwork dealing with you, 'Tsunade'?"

'_Wait a minute; 'Tsunade'?'_

A voice that wasn't Tsunade's replied:

"It was too easy to replace her. How does the interrogation on her go so far, my friends?"

Shizune was actually shocked by realizing who was speaking in the place of Tsunade. She still couldn't believe it, but yet Koharu's reply was enough to confirm her worst fears:

"So far, she hasn't talked, Danzō, neither about Naruto's location, nor about Jiraiya's. Maybe she doesn't know at all."

'_No! Danz__ō__ couldn't have done that! That old bastard!'_ Danzō simply replied with dry voice:

"I know she knows. It's silly to think that Tsunade Senju, being the Fifth Hokage, even if it just was for three years, doesn't know about anything related to the Fire Country."

Homura said, concerned:

"But she has been capable to resist all of our interrogation methods…"

"Then I'll have to question her myself, and if I cannot do that, then I shall call for the Yamanaka. If they can't, then no one can."

Shizune, realizing that the conversation was about to end, returned to her desk and she played dumb as best as she could. Luckily, the Village Elders didn't notice her hard-to-disguise anger and impotence. Now, she needed to find out where Tsunade was being held.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the Hidden Whirlpool Village, the Leaf teenagers were still surprised, chatting and asking questions to the Hidden Whirlpool Villagers, to their leader, the Uzukage number 162, Mizuhara Hyūga, and to Naruto's parents. Chōji was the first one:

"Is that old geezer the usurper?!"

Minato thought:

"Actually, he could be the only one powerful enough to defeat master Sarutobi's Legendary Three students; it actually makes sense…"

Kushina replied:

"Even more if he has **both** the Senju and Uchiha bloodlines on himself…"

Hinata, who had to be splashed with a water spray in order to be awakened, was just shocked with those news, and incredibly (even for herself), she was holding Naruto's hand out of nervousness. Naruto himself was blushed, but he took the time to feel Hinata's soft skin, even in her calloused kunoichi hands, and he liked it. _'If it was for me, I'd never let go of this hand… but, why did it take me so long to realize that…? Damn, you're stupid!'_ Shikamaru, thinking deeply, replied:

"So, it means that he's trying to acquire the power of the Sage of the Six Paths in a rather genetic way…"

Kaji Hyūga, who was also present in that conversation, asked:

"Did he just insert blood and genetic samples of those ninja lineages on his own body?"

Megumi was horrified, but Mizuhara simply nodded:

"Our spies during the time of the Third Ninja War saw him in combat, and saw how he had the face of the First Hokage, Hashirama Senju, on his left shoulder, and how he had one Sharingan on his right arm. Right now, our spies in the Hidden Leaf's Foundation fortress found that, right now, he has not only ten Sharingan eyes on his right arm, but also he replaced his right eye with a Sharingan of a powerful Uchiha kid: Shisui Uchiha…"

Minato and Kushina were shocked to hear that name. Shisui Uchiha was a very promising boy who had made it to Chūnin before being 11 years old, and that was right before Minato and Kushina gave their lives up for Naruto. Ino asked:

"But, how could he make himself with all those Sharingan eyes?! The Uchiha compound was locked up since the day of the massacre!"

Mizuhara said:

"That's one more reason why we need the Three Brother Clans to come back to the Hidden Whirlpool Village: they handle all what's relative to Intelligence and Torture in the Leaf, so they handle that information."

Ino, Shikamaru and Chōji nodded, and immediately asked for pencils, papers and encryption books. Meanwhile, Kaji got close to Hinata and said:

"Come, young Hinata; it is time for you to meet your real roots and start discovering your true potential…"

Hinata looked at Naruto, ashamed:

"B-But, um, N-Naruto…"

Naruto smiled at her:

"We'll be seeing each other sooner than you think, Hinata! Also, you'll love your relatives! Believe it!"

Hinata couldn't stop drinking from Naruto's confidence and joyfulness ever, so she simply gathered her confidence up and smiled back at him, then turning to Kaji and saying:

"O-Ok, lord Kaji, let's go." Turning back to Naruto, she said: "I-I'll be seeing you, Naruto…"

Naruto waved her goodbye, while his parents took him away also. The Ino-Shika-Chō trio would need to focus a lot in order to get the message right, so Naruto left too. When Shikamaru opened the first book he was given, his eyes almost popped out in shock, as he realized that it was written by a legendary figure inside his own Clan. Ino dove into her own book, written by an ancient Yamanaka patriarch, and Chōji started reading the Akimichi Clan diary. After a while, the trio was ready to begin.

* * *

That night, in the Hidden Leaf Village, there was movement in the compounds of the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi. The three patriarchs, Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka and Chōza Akimichi, met in their usual place, the Byakuraku bar, and started drinking hot sake. Shikaku asked:

"Damn… why is it that, today of all days, I'm in need of more sake than ever before?"

Chōza replied:

"Things are tense in your Clan too, Shikaku?"

"Mhm. This letter just arrived today…"

Inoichi took the letter and examined it immediately. The first thing he saw surprised him:

"Hmm, I haven't seen this kind of wax seals but in the Nara's ancient documents…"

Shikaku was upset by that:

"Which means two things: someone is playing a not-funny prank on me, or it's the big deal…"

Inoichi read:

"This is written in the ancient Yamanaka encryption codes, which aren't known by anyone outside the Clan, and by really few inside of it. It says: 'When the night is darkest, the brothers must head to the East and help the sun rise with strength…'"

Chōza's eyes opened wide for the very first time in years:

"We better leave this place; I know what that message is about! Follow me!"

The older Ino-Shika-Chō trio left the bar, heading to the Akimichi compound. Once there, Chōza started checking books, then ancient books, and finally, ancient scrolls, until he found what he was looking for. He opened the scroll and read:

"Look at this; this letter was allegedly written by the very first Akimichi who arrived to the Hidden Leaf. It says: 'When the light was darkened in the East, the brothers headed West and concealed themselves in the darkness, but their duty is to wait for the eastern light to shine and summon them once again.' This is a summoning message!"

Shikaku said:

"But, to which East are they referring themselves to?"

Inoichi said:

"We'll have to meet with our Clan Elders immediately!"

* * *

After a few minutes, the Brother Clans' elders were gathered inside the underground meeting hall the three Clans had. An elderly woman with a long, white ponytail asked first:

"Could you please tell me why you're all with this anxiety and commotion? Now we can't sleep quietly for once, huh?"

Chōza simply replied:

"We've just received a summoning message, lady Maki."

All the elders' eyes almost popped out:

"WHAT?! LET ME SEE THAT!"

Shikaku was almost shocked to see all the rather calm and bored elders attempt to get their hands so desperately on the letter he had on his possession. The Nara elders saw it and realized the wax seal, while the Yamanaka elders noticed the ancient encryption code, and finally, when the message was read again, the Akimichi elders nodded at each other. Inoichi asked:

"What is this summoning about?"

An Akimichi old man who had no hair and had lightning-shaped lines on his cheeks replied:

"We're heading back home, and we better start leaving now."

Shikaku was still doubtful:

"Home? What do you mean with 'home'?"

A Nara elderly woman who wore glasses said:

"We're going back to the Hidden Whirlpool Village. This is the letter from your sons, patriarchs, so they must be there already. Now, we must find the way to leave unnoticed."

Shikaku started thinking, but Inoichi asked quickly:

"But, isn't the Hidden Whirlpool Village extinct since who knows how many decades, or even centuries?"

Maki Akimichi said, lecture mode:

"You weren't born yet for the time it happened, but we were young. When the Rock and the Mist invaded the Hidden Whirlpool Village, in order to make themselves with the natural ore reserves that this village and its protected country had, and to make sure that the Hidden Leaf was weakened for a future Third Ninja War, the Hidden Whirlpool realized that they weren't going to receive any help from the Leaf. So, they decided to simulate their own destruction, and started spreading the word of its downfall."

The Yamanaka elder lady continued:

"We, the Nara, Akimichi and Yamanaka Clans, were commanded by the 159th Uzukage to leave the village and join the Leaf. After all, neither the Leaf nor the other villages knew about us, so it wouldn't bring any suspicions about the Whirlpool still being alive. They were forced to make lots of sacrifices, and they only allowed themselves to keep four Clans, as that was the most they could keep concealed within the debris illusion and the chakra-absorbing whirlpools. We had to wait three generations until the summoning letter would come to us, but it is here now, and our heirs are already there."

The Nara elder with glasses said:

"Now, as the actual leader of the Leaf possesses a Sharingan, then our withdrawal will become a bit more difficult. Even so, there's an ancient technique that we used to leave the Whirlpool and reach this place, and not even the local Uchiha of those days noticed our arrival. When everything is set up, we'll meet here, and we'll leave before midnight. Tell **everyone** to pack everything, but keeping things as quiet as possible, and meet us here in an hour."

The Three patriarchs nodded, and the movement in the three compounds was rather smooth. Finally, all the three Clans' members, included the Nara deer, were in the meeting hall. The six Clan Elders started arming hand seals, fully synchronized, making a rather long sequence of seals, focusing their chakra, and everyone's chakra, around the hall.

Suddenly, one of the doors started being knocked fiercely, and then another one, and then the third one. Finally, the 100th seal was armed by the six elders, and Maki Akimichi whispered:

"We're ready."

The whole room was filled up with chakra, and then it started bathing everyone and everything in it. The door knocks became more and more vicious, and finally, the doors were kicked away. Several ANBU ROOT agents, all armed like for war, entered the empty hall and called:

"Sensors!"

A young masked girl, perhaps on her sixteen, long, dark-blue hair, perfect body shape and balanced proportions, eyes under the mask revealing a couple of Sharingan, two kodachi blades in her hands, entered the hall. She could capture the traces of the chakra signatures with her Sharingan eyes, and what she saw was enough for her to gather all the information she required. Even so, she said:

"It's a waste of time. We came here too late. I can't trace the destination of the chakra used in here. Let's go."

The girl kept her voice as serious as ever, hiding the lie from her partners. One of them called her:

"Damn; Lord Danzō won't like this news, Tsuki!"

Tsuki, the girl described above, said:

"Then be the one to tell him. Take them to protect you, while I still check and clean things here."

The ANBU ROOT agent nodded and everyone left, leaving Tsuki alone. All of the information she had just gathered so far, along with all of the information she had treasured from another ANBU ROOT agent who had a Sharingan just like her: Itachi Uchiha, were more than enough for her to take her chance.

She took off her dark uniform, she took off her mask, her armor and ANBU ROOT equipment, then she wore a long-sleeved dark-green mini-dress she had on her backpack, it fitting her body like a glove and revealing an Uchiha symbol on her back. After that, she wore her leather fingerless gloves and black knee-long zōri, and then she took a deep breath, spitting a fireball on her ROOT uniform and the hall itself. _'This should be enough to burn the three compounds. If the Brother Clans are headed to the Whirlpool Village, then I'll head there too, and no one will chase Tsuki Uchiha!'_

As the hall burned, Tsuki Uchiha just left, disappearing in the shadows, running through the darkest streets and alleys and finally reaching the northeastern wall of the village, sinking herself on the earth and appearing on the other side of the walls. She left the Hidden Leaf Village for good, and now she had to search for a couple of persons before heading to her final destination: the Hidden Whirlpool Village.

End of Episode 05.


End file.
